Have you ever wanted to have that big idea that captured people’s imaginations? We all have. John Shell, a high school junior in Mobile, just wanted to become an Eagle Scout and help the environment along the Alabama Gulf Coast. And it appears he’s stumbled across one of those big ideas. A lover of the outdoors, Shell wanted his Eagle Scout project to be something that would help the environment. In researching potential projects, he came across the work of David Wolff, an environmentalist in Florida who developed a unique artificial floating reef system that provides homes for oysters and… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam MarstonHow would you like to travel all over the world and get paid to do it? Many of us would jump at that chance, but it wasn’t something Jeb Brooks set about to do initially. By finding an audience and honing his video skills to meet what that audience wants, he’s built a business in creating YouTube travel videos. Brooks shared how it all came about in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” It started when Brooks, a frequent traveler with his consulting business, noticed there was a “tiny genre” of creators on YouTube posting videos about… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Travel, What's Working with Cam MarstonSolar power can be an effective way to cut your utility costs. So why don’t we see more of it in Alabama? This is a state, after all, with some of the highest utility rates in the Southeast. But according to the Southern Environmental Law Center, there are only about 500 rooftop solar customers – commercial and residential – in Alabama, a fraction of those utilizing solar power in other Southeastern states. Why? In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” I posed that question to Sam Yates, CEO of Eagle Solar and Light, the largest solar power… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam MarstonArindam Nag will tell you the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t really caused by Wall Street. It was caused by the general public’s lack of financial literacy. That’s a problem Nag has been trying to solve as CEO and co-founder of CentSai.com, a financial education platform that seeks to provide the public with the financial guidance it needs to make informed decisions. In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Nag explains why 2008 was a lesson that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He also shares why, with longer life expectancies leaving some people retired for… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, What's Working with Cam MarstonThe Navy SEALs are an elite fighting force, and it’s not by accident. They are trained to deal with anything, particularly the unexpected. Perhaps that’s why I’ve found that many of them have gone on to succeed in business. Whether it’s that the SEALs draw tough-minded people or it makes them tough-minded, former SEALs tend to be adept and thinking through complex problems in the business world as civilians. So it is with Marty Strong, our guest in a recent “What’s Working with Cam Marston” replay. Strong spent 20 years as a SEAL and then went on to make a… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, WorkplaceWhen your job is to recruit informants for the CIA, you learn to ask the right questions. Blake Mobley did just that while working as a counterintelligence officer under two presidents. It was an experience that taught him how to look for the structural weaknesses in organizations, how to find what motivates people, and the sorts of questions one needs to ask to really learn what they need to know about a person. Those are valuable tools in the hiring process, too. And in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Mobley shares how some of the lessons… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Recruiting, What's Working with Cam MarstonDr. David Bronner wasn’t the first choice to lead the Retirement Systems of Alabama when the job was last open back in 1973. He wasn’t the second or third choice. He wasn’t even the 100th choice. But he was the right choice. Bronner, who grew up in Minnesota before coming to Alabama for law school, ended up running the state’s retirement system because neither of the two most powerful men in the state at that time – Gov. George Wallace and Paul Hubbert, then head of the Alabama Education Association – knew who he was. And therefore, after about 160… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Real Estate, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam MarstonThey call the entertainment industry “show business” for a very good reason. As one great showman I met recently told me: “If you have no show, you have no business. If you have no business, you have no show.” That showman is Bello Nock, a seventh-generation entertainer, circus performer and daredevil who performs around the country. You might have seen him on America’s Got Talent a few years ago, You might remember him from his years with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. You might have seen him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest unsupported… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam MarstonIt’s tough out there today. It’s always been tough but today just seems…tougher. Trying to find things to be happy about, to feel good about, seems harder. But we soldier on. In January, I asked myself, “How can I influence the way people feel each day? What are my tools to do so? What are my resources?” Suddenly, my Keepnin’ It Real commentaries leapt forward in my mind. Long a staple on Alabama Public Radio, I’m redesigning the Keepin’ It Real commentaries for corporate use and in the process I’ve seen an opportunity to bring something very non-traditional to my… Read More
Categories: Blog, Keeping It Real, PodcastOn Wednesday, July 15th at Noon Central, the What’s Working with Cam Marston radio show will feature customer service and leadership expert Mark Sanborn as our first webinar guest. Mark will discuss his research into the post-Covid work environment and what leaders and teams need to know about team formation, productivity, and sustainability and what customers will need that will be different going forward. Mark’s unique qualifications as a nationally recognized authority on leadership and customer service offer the What’s Working audience the unique opportunity hear the content directly from the expert himself. Covid has introduced permanent changes to the… Read More
Categories: Blog, Training Industry, What's Working with Cam Marston